I really think Khan Academy should publish a textbook that everyone can use. Cheap or free, doesn’t change every year, allowed to print out yourself.
Isn’t one of the Gates kids doing some educational reform?
I don’t think the problem is the availability, it’s probably the adoption. But I’m not in higher ed.
Exactly. We already have stuff like OpenStax. Great content, but comparatively little adoption by faculties.
I see some profs trying to choose good books, but they don’t seem to be able. But I’m also not in higher ed.
Respect.
A professor of mine sent me a similar email when I said I was having trouble accessing some journals through the University library portal:
“One should definitely not use Sci-hub, if you catch my drift.”
Too bad it doesn’t have the latest papers. annas-archive is supposed to be growing that database, though.
My Analysis professor once did basically the same thing in class. She said that we should never go to these websites, since they were illegal. Based lady.
I paid $1000 for books my first semester of college back in 2007. I felt so burnt and violated I never bought another textbook. I made it through the rest of undergrad, a masters, and a PhD in biochemistry by checking out books from the library, borrowing textbooks from friends, and going sailing. When I taught I made it a point to teach my students about all the ways they can avoid becoming a victim like myself.
What could you have possibly learned from sailing though?
There’s a lot to be learned at sea, lad.
The only sea I sail is the digital sea
I can’t tell if you actually are confused or not, so I’ll just answer as if you are: the original poster WAS alluding to pirate-actions.
It was SO smooth I literally just thought “Ah must be nice having a boat to go clear one’s head on the waves once in a while since you’re not hustling to pay for all them textbooks.”
Whooshed me like a salty breeze, it did. XD
Lol! Dang rich kids and their rich kid problems!
Which you should not feel bad about. Pirates are in the right. IP law is fucked and you are just surviving in this mess.
Very true
Somalian pirate actions?
Well I’m sure Somalian pirates are capable of pirating in many ways, maybe even simultaneously! Why limit yourself you know?
I was actually confused, I just woke up D:
No worries, happens to me too!
As an aside, at least for me, that first thought that pops into my head when I am trying to understand or interpret something, can be so silly and strange and outside the box, I will legitimately laugh at myself sometimes because of it.
And if it makes you feel better, my first thought reading it was actual sailing too, but only for a moment as I added more context to it. Not sure why I would think of real sailing considering where we are posting but something in the way it was written lends to it.
Good XD! I also laughed at myself when I found out D:
based professor
Our profit margin demands you buy over-priced books from our shop
College material monopolies should be illegal, just like all other monopolies. Want to give students an education in the real world? Let the free market determine textbook prices.
These sites also usually have the solution manuals
Unfortunately many courses now give assignments through sites that are only accessible by purchasing a textbook with a unique access code
So in every other country if they tried something like that, students would kick up shit, government would step in and sort it
So it’s either, too pussy to stand up for yourselves, or you’re living in a dictatorship
Which is it? 😂
i don’t know who’s downvoting you. As an american who had to go through that shit, you’re not at all wrong.
Even worse, they are gaslighted into thinking intellectual property exctracting rent is completely fine and actually desirable.
North American here. Funny how it’s very much less “which is it?” And more “Yeah. Basically.”
We’ve been culturally domesticated to not cause trouble for our bosses / schools / etc. If the State steps in after you cause trouble for enterprise, it’s usually to kick you back into your place.
We might not live in a State dictatorship, but that only matters so far, because that State enables many tiny, petty dictatorships that more directly affect your life and run amok unopposed.
Somehow people accept petty tyranny in everything from corporations to universities to shifts at the burger joint. They’ll get all riled up that some politician they never met is bawking about foreign policy, but their tail is tucked firmly when their company tells them they can’t get sick days and arriving a minute late is a fireable offense.
Many have bought the lies of rugged individualism and competition. “An insult to one is…well, that really sucks for you but I told you to just stay quiet. I’m just working hard doing what I’m told.”
Like someone said before me: Even the most rebellious in us think twice about making our move, because many people simply think “That’s how it is.” And don’t believe it can get any better.
There’s not a lot of examples of collective action winning in recent history, so a lot of people don’t even know how to begin to push back in the first place, besides writing an angry tweet or two.
Selfishness and greed. Anyone that stands up stands alone, and the others are quick to lick a boot as they grovel for scraps. For some inconceivable reason too many consider this preferable to standing together and working to make things better.
It’s not selfishness and greed so often as it is fear and ignorance. Education remedies the ignorance and steels people against the fear that keeps them from working together against a seemingly more powerful force.
A professor at my university tried that, but the students quite quickly made a huge fuss, got the principals office involved, and the universities lawyers informed said professor that what she was doing was illegal, and that she should stop before she got any more trouble. She stopped.
Where was this? The practice described above is common in US universities.
Your university has a principal’s office?
Possibly a poor translation from my side: I’m referring to the “head office” of the university, i.e. the group of people under the direct leadership of the principal, who have the highest administrative authority at the university.
Textbook example of Streisand Effect.
Fuck Pearson
I had a professor who kept all the materials from the books that he wrote on his website. He was cool with students printing the html pages and bringing it to class.
Me fighting my instinct to say * Hello. Based department? *
Perfect professor fr
I had a stats professor who told us to not buy the book. He would print out hand outs and gave them to us every class. He was super nice. One time a girl brought her bunny to class because she had to give it medicine on a schedule and he made her do show and tell lol.
The California Community College I went to allowed you to filter classes in the schedule by whether they offered ZTC - Zero Textbook Cost or OER - Open Educational Resource.
